Amazon Echo was launched almost two years ago and it marked the arrival of AI powered virtual assistants that were not tethered to a cell phone. We don’t have screens glued to our faces, we interact with each other through voice and words. Alexa was a very natural evolution of what a real virtual assistant should be. Echo’s always listening microphones gained acceptance in the home; Echo became a household phenomenon. The success of Alexa encouraged Google. Then, Google Home was launched in October, 2016.